Blizzard and gas masks. How China decides what we watch and play
Table of Contents
We’ve been covering the Blizzard affair all the while (see the highlights: Blizzard Punishes Gamer for Supporting Hong Kong Protests, Community Stands With Blitzchung and an Ex-Blizzard Employee commenting on Chinese Influence – I encourage skimming through them all). In a nutshell – a pro player, Blitzchung, a citizen Hong Kong, won the Hearthstone Grandmasters match in the first days of October. In a subsequent interview (during the official stream), he appeared in a gas mask. The hosts of that interview, aware of the shitstorm that this was going to generate, bizarrely ducked beneath their desks and monitors. Blitzchung shouted slogans about the liberation of Hong Kong, hence voicing his support for the revolution. The producer promptly switched to the commercials and the stream magically disappeared from Twitch. Two days later, for breaking the rules of the competition, Blitzchung was suspended for a year, his reward withdrawn. The hosts, despite using the completely foolproof remedy of sort-of-ducking-but-still-watching, were fired. Blizzard severed any potential for being linked to the player's manifest, making sure no one thinks Blitzchung’s statement had been representative of the company's policy.
This caused an unprecedented backlash. Fans, professional players, the video game industry and even the employees themselves have all expressed their outrage in different ways. The spread of boycott caused a snowball effect which is still reverberating around the Internet. The Americans ended up officially apologizing at the very opening of Blizzcon via the mouth of Allen Brack, the president of Blizzard Entertainment himself. Whether that wasn’t just paying lip service is an interesting question, but Blizz was sure crestfallen, less inclined to smug remarks.
That apology was the conclusion of a sweeping attempt to save Blizzard’s reputation. The ban on the player was reduced to six months and the money for winning the competition was transferred to Blitzchung’s account after all. The pro player made an official statement, in which he expressed his gratitude to Blizzard and said that he wishes the company all the best. Meanwhile, the CEO of Blizzard assured us that the company's relationship with China was not relevant to the case (are you sure about that Blizzard?). Some serious damage control here.
